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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24061819">you can either laugh or cry</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/synthehol_king/pseuds/synthehol_king'>synthehol_king</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol, Friendship, M/M, Unrequited, curzon was a trashfire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:48:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24061819</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/synthehol_king/pseuds/synthehol_king</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“He’s not even my type.”</p><p>“Do you have a type?” Dax looked at Will.</p><p>“No,” he admitted. “Just a distinct lack of common sense.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Quark/Riker (Star Trek)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>you can either laugh or cry</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><b>cw:</b> alcohol, emotional unavailability, curzon being a douche</p><p>Dax and Riker talk relationship struggles</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“He’s not even my type.”</p><p> </p><p>“Do you have a type?” Dax looked at him over the rim of her glass.</p><p> </p><p>“No,” he admitted. “Just a distinct lack of common sense.”</p><p> </p><p>It felt a little disloyal, inviting him to her quarters for drinks, even if it was just a platonic gesture. But she was used to juggling her priorities - it came with the territory of being the resident pseudo-therapist. Or maybe it just came with being popular. </p><p> </p><p>Either way, a friend with a need to commiserate outweighed her typical rule of avoiding Quark’s romantic messes. It wasn’t a hard rule; typically their tastes differed enough to avoid any territorial squabbles, and, bearing that, she rarely found herself making friends with any of them. But she knew Will as a Starfleet officer first, and as a frequent flier of Quark’s dabo table second. That muddied the waters enough to allow for a bit of dual loyalty.</p><p> </p><p>Will straightened up, looking at Jadzia with conviction. “He is rude.”</p><p> </p><p>“He can be...abrasive,” she nodded.</p><p> </p><p>“He is arrogant.”</p><p> </p><p>“A little proud, some would say.”</p><p> </p><p>“His only concern is how to make more latinum, no matter what he has to do to get it.”</p><p> </p><p>“He’s very career-driven.”</p><p> </p><p>“He’s not even that - well, no, he is attractive, I’ll give him that,” Will shook his head, agreeing with himself. Jadzia examined a loose thread poking out of her sleeve. </p><p> </p><p>“So how is it I keep finding myself here?” His voice was muffled by the side of his hand where he rested his chin. He scowled at nothing in particular, half-drunk and half-heartsick enough to make Jadzia’s pity outweigh her hedged loyalty.</p><p> </p><p>“Did I ever tell you about the time Curzon tried to elope?”</p><p> </p><p>Whether he had or not, the silence prompted her to continue. </p><p> </p><p>“Well, ‘tried,’ is a fairly strong word. He <i>attempted</i> to try. He failed miserably, but it had less to do with his tactics and more to do with the fact that he was proposing to the wife of a Klingon council member.”</p><p> </p><p>Riker sat up a little straighter.</p><p> </p><p>“I know. Trust me, it wasn’t any less embarrassing having to remember it,” she said, wincing. “Having an affair had been one thing, but she apparently drew the line at abandoning her entire life and family for a man she barely knew. Can’t say I blame her.</p><p> </p><p>“Anyway, the thing is, it’s not like he really thought she’d say yes,” Dax explained. “Otherwise he never would have asked. He just wanted something he could point to when it inevitably fell apart.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s pretty manipulative, wouldn’t you say?” Will raised an eyebrow.</p><p> </p><p>Jadzia nodded. “Oh, definitely - that’s not really the point I was getting at, though. It’s more about why he’d bothered to pursue a married woman in the first place. Or the second, third, or fourth place,” she said, mentally counting off a number of similar memories she’d inherited. “Curzon didn’t like being with people half as much as he liked the <i>idea</i> of being with people. And he learned very quickly that not everyone is as afraid of commitment as he is. So he learned to look for people that he knew he could never truly have.”</p><p> </p><p>She looked at Will.</p><p> </p><p>“The funny thing is, she <i>did</i> end up leaving her husband a year later for someone else,” Dax’s expression shifted. “The commander of a bird of prey she met at an ambassador’s welcoming feast.”</p><p> </p><p>The room felt quiet.</p><p> </p><p>Will broke the silence, lowering his glass to the table top. “So is the moral of that story to stay away from married women and emotionally unavailable bartenders?”</p><p> </p><p>Dax returned his smile, and shook her head. </p><p> </p><p>“I think the real question you should be asking yourself is how you keep losing out to security officers.”</p><p> </p><p>Given his two options, Riker chose to laugh.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i’m pretty sure worf was already a security officer when he started dating troi?</p><p>also i wouldn’t take dax’s assessment of the situation too seriously because will is much more emotionally intelligent than curzon, she just thinks he’s got a bad habit of falling for emotionally unavailable people lol</p></blockquote></div></div>
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